Iwo Jima Small volcanic island Mr. Suribachi was the dominant feature This was part of Japan proper Located half way between the Marianas bomber bases.

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Presentation on theme: "Iwo Jima Small volcanic island Mr. Suribachi was the dominant feature This was part of Japan proper Located half way between the Marianas bomber bases."— Presentation transcript:

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Iwo Jima Small volcanic island Mr. Suribachi was the dominant feature This was part of Japan proper Located half way between the Marianas bomber bases and the Japanese mainland Time between invasion of Philippines and when invasion of Okinawa was planned

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Japanese switched from trying to stop them at the beach to attacking as the Americans moved inland Estimated it would take 4 days – It took 36 days Japanese waited until the beaches were full and then opened fire Some of the fiercest fighting of the war 1 st time American casualties exceeded Japanese Very significant for upcoming decisions

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March – Crossing Rhine After Operation Market Garden failed, it took the Allies 6 months to cross the Rhine River

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Okinawa in April 1945 A battle of very personal interest for me My father, Arlie Louie Hunt II was a Marine with the 6 th Marine division on Okinawa

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463 Square miles (Iwo Jima is 8 square miles) 400 miles south of Japan proper Largest invasion of the Pacific War Nimitz’s and McArthur’s forces join up 1,300 ships carrying 183,000 troops (larger than D-Day and a lot farther from a friendly base) They would be facing 117,000 Japanese troops

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They landed on April 1 st 1945 They met no resistance and so they called it Love Day The Marines quickly secured the Northern half of the island To the South the Army forces ran into heavy fighting and the Marines were sent to take over the fighting

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The Japanese plan, like on Iwo Jima, was to not try and win the battle but to inflict so many losses on the Americans that they would be slowed The goal was for every soldier to kill 10 Americans and for every pilot to take out one ship

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Kamikaze – means divine wind The idea was for a Japanese pilot to dive his plane into an American ship, killing himself but hopefully destroying a whole American ship The Japanese realized their conventional forces couldn’t stop the American fleet, so they turned to desperate measures It took less skill to fly a plane into a target than actually bomb it

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Kamikaze attacks began during the invasion of the Philippines Okinawa was the high point of Kamikaze attacks The Japanese sent 1,500 at the American fleet The Americans defended their fleet with fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns

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The Americans had 368 ships damaged or sunk due to the Kamikaze attacks off of Okinawa The Navy suffered the highest loss of life in its history during the battle for Okinawa The Navy alone suffered 10,000 casualties

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82 day long battle Japanese lost 100,000 casualties Allies lost 50,000 casualties Additionally the Marines and Army suffered very high levels of combat fatigue The Okinawans lost approximately 150,000 civilians (about 1/3 rd of their population Only at Stalingrad were civilian casualties higher than at Okinawa